


After the Battle

by Mlr96



Series: The Two Doctors [6]
Category: Criminal Minds, Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 21:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10862934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mlr96/pseuds/Mlr96
Summary: Sixth in The Two Doctors series about Dr. Spencer Reid, a genius, an FBI Agent, a profiler and a Time Lord.Story #6:The day after the event that news reporters had already started referring to as 'The Battle of Canary Wharf', Spencer walked into the bullpen area with shaky feet.





	After the Battle

**Author's Note:**

> This one was so hard to write... and yet, so satisfying :)
> 
> Just one part this time, hope you like it!

The day after the event that news reporters had already started referring to as ‘The Battle of Canary Wharf’, Spencer walked into the bullpen area with shaky feet.

The Doctor wouldn’t return any of his calls, and whenever he tried calling Rose or Jackie, he received a message saying the number was offline. Jackie and he had been in contact over the past couple of months, since the ghost shifts started. Spencer himself didn’t see any ghosts, but nearly everyone around him did.

It was just after he received a text message telling him the Doctor and Rose were back on Earth that the Time Lord and two Humans became unreachable. A few hours later, the Cybermen attacked and Spencer understood.

The Doctor, being who he was, was probably right in the middle of the Cybermen’s base of operations. If he answered Spencer’s calls, it would alert them not only to Spencer’s existence, but to his whereabouts, and would put his team in danger.

Not that they weren’t in danger already, what with the two dozen Cybermen that rounded all of the agents into the bullpen area. Prentiss and Garcia constantly tried to catch his eye, but he avoided them. They shouldn’t do anything that might accidently attract attention to themselves.

Then, the Daleks arrived.

Not even five minutes later, Prentiss turned to look at Spencer only to find the Time Lord gone.

It wasn’t until now, almost twenty four hours after the Cybermen and Daleks disappeared, that Spencer came back.

“Reid.” He didn’t need to look up to know it was Gideon calling him, just as he didn’t need to look up to know the rest of the team were watching him. “To my office, please.”

Spencer silently obeyed, looking at his boss’ back as he walked up to his office. He didn’t know what he was going to tell him. He wasn’t completely sure what had happened, to begin with.

How did the Cybermen arrive? How were the Daleks still alive? Why did the two fight, and how did they disappear when they did?

Where were the Doctor, Rose and Jackie?

Gideon walked into his office and sat down, looking at the young profiler who sat in front of him.

“Well?” he asked after several minutes of silence. “Are you going to explain where you disappeared to yesterday?”

“I didn’t run away and got high, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

The subject was still a sore one, even though Spencer was clean for the past month, three weeks and four days, and Spencer flinched slightly as the words left his mouth. Gideon sighed.

“I’m not angry,” he said. “I’m not here to lecture you or something like that.”

“Sure feels that way,” Spencer commented.

“I’m here because I’m worried,” Gideon said. “There were metal men and killer saltshakers, and you just disappeared.”

Spencer wasn’t sure what it was that snapped him back into reality for the first time since the Cybermen attacked. There was a fair chance it was Gideon referring to the deadliest killing machine in the history of the universe as ‘killer saltshakers’.

“Daleks,” he said quietly, feeling the hatred rise in him.

“What?”

“They’re called Daleks,” Spencer said. “The metal men are Cybermen, and they’re two of the deadliest life forms in the universe. They’re aliens,” he said simply, glancing up at his boss. “Ready to diagnose me with Schizophrenia yet?”

Gideon was silent for a few moments. “The woman from reception,” he said. “Her name was Sarah. The – the Cybermen shot her, and she’s dead. No,” he said, “I don’t believe it was a hoax. I don’t think we all just imagined it. And, to answer your question, I don’t think you’re crazy.” Spencer let out a shaky breath in relief as Gideon went on, “They’re aliens?”

“Yes,” Spencer said. “Not naturally-created ones, though. The Daleks were created by a madman as a means to end the war on his home planet, and the Cybermen are in reality people who adapted to their planet drifting away from its solar system by turning themselves to cyborgs. The whole ‘upgrading’ part came later.”

“What were they doing on Earth?”

“No idea,” Spencer replied. “The Doctor would probably know, but I can’t seem to reach him.”

“And…” Gideon hesitated. “How do you know so much about them?”

Spencer sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“I have time,” Gideon shrugged.

“It’s a long story I don’t want to tell.”

This time, it was Gideon’s turn to sigh. “So there were… Cybermen and Daleks on Earth,” he tried. “Why did they declare war on us?”

“Declared war?” Spencer repeated. “The Daleks declared war on the Cybermen, not on the humans. Calling what happened yesterday a war would suggest that the Daleks consider the humans…” Spencer trailed off, seemingly uncertain how to continue.

“Consider the humans what?” Gideon asked.

“A threat. A worthy opponent. Something worth considering.”

Gideon grimaced. “I take it that they don't?” he asked.

“No more than you consider a cockroach a worthy opponent when you use bug extermination,” Spencer told him. “Because you need to understand, this is what Daleks do. They don’t kill, they exterminate. And they were developed for this one cause. Honestly,” he shrugged. “You guys never stood a chance.”

Spencer wasn’t sure what was the reaction he expected, but for Gideon to raise his head and stare at him wasn’t it.

“You guys,” he said. “And… you said ‘the Daleks consider the humans’…” He swallowed hard. “You’re not human.”

“No. What?” he added as the expression on Gideon’s face shifted to a different sort of surprise. “You thought I was going to deny?”

“More like hoped so, really.”

“You’re not stupid, you would have figured it out on your own.” There was a beat of silence, and then, “I’m not like them, though. I… I don’t have a problem with humans, or a need to rage war against the universe or anything like that.”

“Yeah…” Gideon muttered. “I think I believe you. So, is Deanna…?”

“No,” Spencer said. “She’s completely human.”

“Why did you grow up on Earth?”

“I… I didn’t.”

Gideon looked like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. “How old are you?”

Spencer swallowed hard. This part always came as a shock to species with an average lifespan as small as humans.

“Around 650,” he said. “Give or take a decade.”

“Give or take…” Gideon muttered in disbelief. “Give or take a _decade_?”

“Of course that’s what you focus on,” Spencer sighed. “Be honest – does it really matter if I’m 640 years old or 660 years old? I don’t remember the exact number at the moment.”

“Spencer Reid not remembering something,” Gideon muttered. “Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

“I don’t _really_ have an eidetic memory, you know,” Spencer replied. “I just have a bigger brain capacity than humans do. Pretty sure Emily knows how old I am, if it really matters to you.”

“Emily?” Gideon repeated. “Emily’s an alien, too?!”

“What?” Spencer asked. “No! She just… knew me, when she was a child. And it’s nice to have someone to talk to. Pretty sure Garcia knows, too, although I never actually spoke to her about it.”

“But, wait,” Gideon said, shaking his head. “There are birth records saying you were born in 1981. Your mom has pictures of you growing up, you have a whole history! It can’t just be fake.”

“It isn’t,” Spencer said. “In October of 1981, I arrived on Earth as a day old baby. The real Spencer Reid died, and I took his place. Mom knows,” he added before Gideon could comment. “She always knew.”

“But if the real Spencer died… what’s your real name?”

A small smile crossed Spencer’s lips. “Haven’t you figured it out, yet?”

Gideon frowned before his eyes widened in understanding. “You’re the Professor,” he said. “You’re Emily’s Professor. But you look nothing like what she described! And how did you turn into a day old baby?”

“Well, I…” Spencer sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“That’s what you said before.”

“It’s the same story,” Spencer said. “It’s still long.” Gideon stared at him for several long moments and Spencer sighed, realizing the other profiler wasn’t going to leave it alone until he told him. “There was a war,” he said. “The Last Great Time War. Biggest war to have ever raged the universe.”

“How big?” Gideon questioned.

“Think of the biggest war you can imagine and then some. Now multiply it by one thousand,” Spencer paused for a moment to let his words sink before resuming. “The Time War was still bigger.”

“What happened?” Gideon asked. “Did you… did you fight?”

“No,” Spencer said simply. “I did something much, much worse.”

Gideon hesitated for a moment, seeming to be scared of the answer he’ll get should he ask the question he wanted to. “What did you do?” he finally said, worry evident in his voice.

“I ran away.”


End file.
